Support - which does mark use? Belgium Linen? Cotton Duck?

Artists, I started painting in oil using Mark's method. I don't think he ever mentioned what kind of support he paints on... is it Belgium Linen or cotton duck, etc... also it would be fantastic if mark sold canvases primed already the way he does it before he paints on the canvas.

I bought a Belgium Linen canvas and there is nothing like it, so smooth, perfect for portraits...but it was also $80.00 for a 18x24 whereas if you go to Michaels you can get the same size on cotton duck for $6.00.

What do you guys think?

I also tried boards, and they are really smooth but I like how linen or cotton absorbs the paint.

This form, like panel painting, was a form of studio art but used canvas as a support rather than wood panels. Canvas was both lighter and less expensive than panels, and required no special priming with gesso and other materials. From the Baroque era onwards (1600) oil on canvas became the preferred form of painting throughout Europe. It was particularly popular with new bourgeois patrons in 17th century Dutch painting (1600-80), notably in the form of portraiture, still life and genre works.

When they write that old masters painted on "canvas" do they mean a cotton canvas or more like a linen?

For large paintings I think it would be hard to beat stretched canvas or linen. It's lightweight and therefore easy to transport and hang. You can leave it rough or make it as smooth as you want with repeat applications of gesso and sanding. It can also be stretched after painting or glued to MDF or other rigid supports. You can also buy it in large rolls, which makes it cheaper, and cut it to any size/format you want. Paintings on canvas/linen have lasted centuries so, providing it is properly primed and the fat over lean rule is adhered to, there are not a lot of archival problems.